| “ | Zak: There is one thing I wish to make clear. Today, in this courtroom...... you cannot declare me "guilty." It is impossible. Judge: ... I'm afraid the defendant is quite mistaken. I most certainly have the authority to declare a verdict on you. Zak: Except... tell me, how do you plan on announcing your verdict...... when your defendant does not exist? Judge: "Doesn't exist"...? What are you talking about? Zak: I am talking... about this! |
„ |
| ~ Zak Gramarye, moments before making his escape. |
Shadi Smith, better known as Zak Gramarye, is the first victim and the secondary antagonist of Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney.
Biography[]
Troupe Gramarye[]
Zak was a magician for Magnifi Gramarye, being one of his prized apprentices. During this time, he met Thalassa and Valant Gramarye, and the trio were known as Troupe Gramarye. Thalassa married another performer while in the troupe, but after his death, she would marry Zak and have a daughter with him, Trucy Enigmar. All would go well for Troupe Gramarye until one day, when practicing “Zak & Valant’s Quick Draw Shoot’em”, Thalassa took a bullet to the head and was put into a coma. Zak and Valant were both unaware of which one of them had shot the bullet that incapacitated Thalassa. Magnifi covered it up but blackmailed the two men for years, convincing them that Thalassa was dead. During this time, Zak would become acquainted with a reporter named Spark Brushel who was investigating the accident.
Magnifi was eventually hospitalized with cancer and diabetes. A year later, Zak was given a letter by Magnifi to end his life by shooting him in the forehead, noting that he “couldn’t refuse”. Zak arrived at the hospital, but couldn’t shoot his mentor, and instead shot a clown doll in the room in the forehead. Magnifi, who was feigning sleep, told Zak that he made the right decision and passed the performance rights of his magic to him. After Zak left, Valant, who received the same letter, arrived 20 minutes after Zak with the intention to kill Magnifi, but couldn’t shoot him. After Valant left, Magnifi committed suicide, and a jealous Valant tampered with the crime scene to frame his friend for murder. Zak was subsequently arrested for murder. When searching for a lawyer, Zak would refuse the services of Kristoph Gavin after beating him in a game of poker, sensing that Gavin was not trustworthy. Zak would choose Phoenix Wright as his lawyer instead after Wright beat him in a game of poker, deeming Wright trustworthy. This decision would have dire consequences for the both of them.
Before his trial, Zak told Wright that it would be “impossible” for him to be found guilty should Wright make a mistake. Kristoph would trick Trucy into giving forged evidence to Wright, who would present it in court. After the evidence was exposed as a forgery, all of Wright’s claims were made invalid. Before the judge could declare a verdict, Zak told the judge that he could not give a verdict to a defendant who didn’t exist, and suddenly disappeared from the courtroom. Zak would use his daughter as a decoy to escape the courtroom and would never be seen again for seven years. After his disappearance, Valant was jailed for a short time for Magnifi’s murder, and Wright was disbarred.
Present Day[]
Seven years later, Zak would reappear at the Borscht Bowl Club under the guise of a traveler named Shadi Smith. After tracking down Phoenix Wright, he used Spark Brushel as a notary to create a will passing on the performance rights of his magic to Trucy, as he would be soon declared dead in absentia. Zak would learn from Wright that the public believed that Valant killed Magnifi, and wrote a letter falsely admitting that he killed his mentor to clear Valant of suspicion. Zak challenged Wright to a game of poker, hoping to beat the undefeated poker player, and the two moved down to the Hydeout, a basement in the Club.
Zak devised a plan to expose Wright as a cheater by having a bartender and dealer Olga Orly plant a card on Wright. However, Wright saw through the trick and disposed of the card before the game started. Thinking Olga had failed him, he picked up a bottle of grape juice and knocked her unconscious. Wright went upstairs to call the police. While Wright was upstairs, Kristoph Gavin snuck into the Hydeout via a secret passageway and killed Zak via blunt force trauma with a bottle of grape juice, still holding a grudge that Zak refused him as his lawyer seven years prior. Wright was arrested for the murder of “Shadi Smith”.
Wright was represented by greenhorn defense attorney Apollo Justice and Kristoph Gavin during the trial. Kristoph would make a fatal slip-up during the trial by referring to Shadi Smith as bald, prompting Wright to accuse Kristoph of the murder since Zak had a hat on the entire time they were playing poker. After being pressed on the matter by Wright and Apollo, Kristoph was exposed as the murderer, but his motive remained unknown until months after the trial. Wright was subsequently found not guilty.
Due to the real identity of Shadi Smith being unknown, Zak Gramarye was declared legally dead in absentia after seven years. His legal death would bring Valant out of hiding, who believed he would receive the performance rights to the magic. Wright would encounter Valant and show him the will Zak wrote for Trucy before his death, as well as Zak’s false confession letter. Realizing he had lost everything, Valant confessed to tampering with the crime scene and decided to turn himself in.
Personality[]
Zak is not a very nice person. While he is capable of forming genuine bonds with loved ones, he will cast them aside the instant he gains an advantage. He prefers to run from his actions instead of deal with them, and resorts to violence when he doesn't get his way. He is deeply manipulative and rather cruel, though he has moments of sympathy, where he reveals that deep down, he has a strong sense of honor, even when it doesn't benefit him.
